Software Forum Guide & Forum Structure

This is a discussion on Software Forum Guide & Forum Structure within the Trading Software forums, part of the Commercial category; The main content of the Software Guide is now virtually completed for the present. As you can see it is ...

The main content of the Software Guide is now virtually completed for the present. As you can see it is not been an easy subject to deal with properly in one reasonably sized guide. What has been achieved so far is pretty general.

I have suggested to Sharky that we change the Software Forum structure by creating (say) 10 Sub Forums within it so that we can set up one sub forum for each of the 10 most commonly used software packages.

Each sub forum would be devoted to:

1) A permanent & editorially controlled guide on the specific software addressed by that sub forum (e.g. The TS2000i Guide). The guide could be developed from the contents of the threads on that software & also by anyone with a good knowledge of the software who is prepared to contribute something in a structured way towards these specialist guides. It could contain links to other specialist sites and user group posting etc. It would hopefully also contain graphics on the use of the software contributed by members.

2) Threads posted by members in the usual way specifically relating to the software addressed by that sub forum - say for example TS2000i or Updata TA or Sierra Chart or Sharescope.

In addition to this there would be within the Software Forum a General Software Forum where topics outside specific packages or on packages without a dedicated Sub Forum could be posted.

The proposal is that each existing threads relevant to particular software would be moved to an associated Sub Forum or remain in the General Software Forum.

The main benefit of the proposal seems to me to be that this structure would allow a more organised & disciplined approach. It would allow potential for detailed help to be given & received via the boards in a more structured & logical way.

Your views are requested please:-

On the proposal generally & also on whether such sub forums should be viewable from the main T2W forum home page or only accessible from the Software forum page. I think that the latter would be preferable.

I think making the sub forums visible once you've reached 'the software forum' makes sense, to avoid swamping the shop front... after all, many users won't be looking for software info, they don't really want a huge list of software related stuff on the end of their noses.
Don't go too far down the sub forum line of course - continually 'drilling down' through layer after layer of menu is annoying when you DO want to get somewhere for a quick check.
I think it'd be sensible to have a couple of minor folders for the also rans, maybe split TA/FA, as there are an awful lot of programs out there worth a paragraph or two, a useful addition would be a section on programs like databull etc ... I get an endless stream of people asking me how to grab free data, at the last count I think there were more 'yahoo downloaders' out there than you could shake a very long stick at... useful extras like these would answer many a prayer if covered briefly.
Dave

I've updated the way that sub-forum display on the forum home page - before you'd have to enter the main forum to get at the sub-forums. Now any subforum is listed in the main forum description, making it easier to get to. If anyone has any last minute suggestion or feedback on Rognvald's proposal please add your comments to this thread.

Hi,
being nosey I finally went to look at the software forum, figuring I'd go into a sort of front page, where all the different programs were listed (rather expecting a 'sticky' thread at the top where Rognvald would be posting words of wisdom) and I could then click a program name and see the relevant posts on it.
If that's available somewhere then my apologies, what I found appeared to be extremely disordered - am I doing it right?
I clicked "Discussion Boards", went to "The Tools" then "Software"... and it's completely disordered, with the top thread being about getting improved modem speeds! There are multiple threads for some programs, no sign of other programs, and a liberal sprinkling of threads that aren't software related at all...
Perhaps most surprising of all, and possibly explaining what I'm doing wrong, the only mention of "forums" seems to be under the review section - are the 'forums' actually "discussion boards", or are they hidden somewhere I can't find a link to?
I'm genuinely confused here - the software discussion board looks totally disorganised, so I'm assuming that I'm looking in the wrong place, but I can't find any link(s) showing me where I ought to be looking... help!
Dave